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| Composer Mark Hagerty |
Cunningham Piano—the Philadelphia region’s premier purveyor of fine pianos and one of the top piano restoration companies in the country—is supporting this project by delivering a magnificent Bösendorfer 280 concert grand to the recording site. Cunningham Piano has a long relationship with Cacioppo, who is professor of music at Haverford College, where a Bösendorfer Imperial maintained by Cunningham Piano is the instrument on which not only Cacioppo, but also guest artists at Haverford perform, including such noted pianists as Garrick Ohlsson, Claude Frank, Cecil Taylor, and Marian McPartland. Cacioppo himself has recorded 10 CDs on the instrument. He is also enjoying his personal 100-year-old Steinway, recently restored by Cunningham Piano. While the Haverford Imperial is undergoing restoration, Cunningham Piano has offered to provide their 280 concert grand for the recording project.
Cacioppo
will be recording two recent works by Hagerty.
The Realm of Possibility,
written for Cacioppo in 2006, was previewed in extract form by Cacioppo in
Turin and Venice. The work, which Cacioppo has termed a “monumental cycle,”
consists of an introduction and 10 pieces based on the principal of chaos
theory that, in a complex system, identical initial conditions can give rise to
different outcomes. The pieces, all of
which are presaged in an introductory “Outburst,” can be combined with one
another flexibly, in unlimited combinations.
The second work, dating from 2009, is After Duchamp, a collection of ten pieces, mostly miniatures, which
take their cue from artist Marcel Duchamp’s motto “I force myself to contradict
myself so as not to follow my own taste.”
Hagerty has pushed the limits of his own artistic principles and
esthetics to produce works that extend his range and challenge the listener,
not through shocking sounds but through formal and rhetorical provocation or
eccentricity. While After Duchamp is intended for piano or harpsichord (Hagerty is married
to harpsichordist Tracy Richardson), The
Realm of Possibility is pure piano music.
Hagerty
commented, “The tone-color of the Bösendorfer is perfect for this music. Bösendorfer allows the piano to have so many
different shades of color. I love the bell-like
treble, the ‘male chorus’ lower register, and especially, the growling
bass. To have this artist, Curt
Cacioppo, who happens to be an old friend, playing my music on this instrument
is all I could ask as a composer.”
Hagerty
and Cacioppo met in Boston after college graduation, when Cacioppo was
completing his PhD at Harvard University, where he studied with such notables
as Leon Kirchner and Luise Vosgerchian.
Hagerty elected not to pursue the Harvard graduate program (he notes
that saying “no thank you”to the embossed acceptance letter was a hard,
fateful, but quick decision) because he did not see himself as a devoted
scholar or teacher, unlike Cacioppo, who is both. The two grew up outside of Cleveland, unaware
of each other, and have since shared many humorous recollections about their
roots. Both have lived outside the US,
Cacioppo in Italy, and Hagerty in The Netherlands. This recording project is their first major collaboration,
though early in their acquaintance, Hagerty took the tenor solo in the premier
of Cacioppo’s Alla Primavera, a
“virtuoso madrigal,” and the two read through the song cycles of Robert
Schumann. Cacioppo’s inspirations are
often literary—he is a serious reader of Dante—while Hagerty is more inspired
by science, nature, and chaotic systems.
Andreas
Meyer, recording engineer for the project, has won awards both as composer and
as engineer. He has produced several CDs
that feature Hagerty’s works, including the Relâche Ensemble’s “Press Play,”
which features High Octane,
Mélomanie’s “Florescence,” which includes Trois
Rivières, and “Soliloquy,” a two-volume set of Hagerty’s solo suites for
harpsichord and cello, performed by Tracy Richardson and Douglas McNames. Meyer’s production company, Meye rMedia, is
preparing to release “Forays,” a collection of some of Hagerty’s virtuoso solo
and chamber works. Cacioppo’s compositions
are represented by many recordings on the Navona, MSR Classics, and Capstone
labels.
Hagerty’s
next recording project is a joint CD with Rio de Janeiro composer Sergio
Roberto de Oliveira. The CD, which will
offer percussion-centric works by both composers, is planned for release in
late 2012, in conjunction with a concert in Rio. Hagerty is currently completing a work for
cello and piano and is in the midst of a large orchestral project in which he
is combining sound sculpture with more traditional expression. Cacioppo is
finishing a commission from the Carmel Bach Festival Orchestra, and is at work
on a piece for piano and string quartet, which he will play with the Quartetto
di Venezia.
Cacioppo
and Hagerty express their deep appreciation to Cunningham Piano for providing
the ultimate instrument for a project that means so much to both of them.
For more information: www.cunninghampiano.com, www.curtcacioppo.com, www.hagertymusic.com, www.meyer-media.com
